Putting a 409 in a truck is really a pretty good idea- - - -that's what the "W" engine was designed to be. Back in 1957, Ford's supercharged 312 engine option was showing the new 283 Chevy engine its heels on the drag strip on a regular basis. Chevy had the 348 engine ready to go into medium-duty trucks- - - -it was never intended for passenger car use. They fitted it with a pretty radical cam and a 3-2 barrel intake and put into the 58 Impala as an attempt to regain drag strip dominance.
Two problems- - - -the engine was heavy, and it was built for torque, not RPM. Above 5500 RPM it had a nasty habit of swallowing valves. The guys who were used to flooring the throttle on a 265 or a 283 and counting to 10 before shifting scattered the big blocks by the truckload! Going to 409 cubic inches and even 427 with a few NASCAR experimental W engines didn't help the poor valve train design, or the oddball angled top of the block that put the combustion chamber in the cylinder, not the head. Eventually guys did learn NOT to use super low rear end gears and start watching the tach instead of waiting for the valves to float before shifting.
A low compression version of the 409 was made for dump trucks in the early 1960's, and it was pretty successful as long as people didn't mess with the governor and over-rev the engine.
Jerry
